RANKIN COUNTY – Rankin County Coroner Jimmy Roberts said the Jackson County clerk found dead in her jail cell after confessing to one of the biggest embezzlement scams in state history died of ‘natural causes.’ Two days after Ginger Lashley, 50, plead guilty to stealing more than $890,000 from Jackson County taxpayers, she was found dead in her jail cell at the Rankin County detention center.
On April 20, Lashley appeared in a wheel chair before Circuit Judge Dale Harkey who told her she committed a “stunning betrayal of public trust.”
Lashley plead guilty to eight counts of embezzlement after she was accused of taking $890,827.58 during her time as a Jackson County finance clerk from 2001 to 2008. Lashley took money from “payables,” such as refund and utility checks and deposited the money into a fictitious account titled, “Jackson County Food Drive.”
Lashley initially said she set up the account for a food drive but in court, she reportedly admitted she used the money to pay for her medical and living expenses.
Judge Harkey sentenced Lashley to 10 years in prison and 10 years probation. She was also ordered to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.
At 4:35 a.m., on April 22, Lashley was found dead in her jail cell at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.
Roberts said Lashley suffered from diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and an autopsy was ordered.
“Her carotid arteries were clogged,” Roberts said this week. “She died of heart-related problems. This is our preliminary report but the family knows. I’ve notified them.”
Lashley was arrested and indicted in September 2010 after the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department notified the state auditor Stacey Pickering of the case.
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